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"Our show has been able to provide a voice to many in our community who go unnoticed. And of that I am immensely proud," Pickering said.

Ten has confirmed that Pickering will not be replaced, and only Carrie Bickmore and comedian Peter Helliar will carry the show forward.

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Pickering rose to prominence in 2008, as the host of a comedy series on Foxtel's Comedy Channel, The Mansion.

A year later he was signed as one of the three original hosts of The 7pm Project, as it was then known. The others were Dave Hughes, who stepped down last year to focus on his family, and Carrie Bickmore.

Pickering's departure comes just a few months before the show's fifth anniversary, a major milestone for a program which has, at times, been set dangerously adrift by the network which commissioned it.

When it began, in July, 2009, The 7pm Project was a patchwork of entertainment news, comedy and, inexplicably, a commercial star vehicle for the MTV presenter Ruby Rose.

After a year of ironing out the wrinkles, Rose's prominence was phased out and the show found new focus mixing serious news and entertainment, with the former bringing an unexpected, but very meaningful, badge of legitimacy to what Ten was doing.

At a time when the network was tinkering with its news tone and style, the maturation of The 7pm Project into a serious news alternative was revealing. In particular, it appealed to young audiences who find the one-head, one-headline style of Seven and Nine too dour.

But as is so often the case, commercial networks cannot help but tinker - even with shows which, as The 7pm Project did, eventually lift their audience to close to one million viewers on a nightly basis.

Those numbers were astonishing, but brief. Ten shifted it to 6pm, expanded it to an hour, and then shifted it again to 6.30pm, where it remains.

Those giddily high ratings numbers, regrettably, have never been recreated, in part because of audience fatigue with Ten's tinkering, but also because Ten has taken serious ratings damage since its change of management in February, 2012, and the net result has been sliding numbers across the board.

With a five year anniversary and a change of presenter lineup, there is an opportunity for rebirth but how Ten handles that remains to be seen, particularly with more pressing issues across its schedule, including a failed second attempt to push into the breakfast TV arena dominated by Seven and Nine, and a shrinking prime time share.

Ten, for its part, says it is keen to keep Pickering on the network.

Newly-installed executive director of news and current affairs Peter Meakin said Ten "owe[s] Charlie a big debt of gratitude. He has been an essential part of The Project for five years.

"We have already discussed another concept which would showcase his considerable talents but it’s very early days yet," Meakin said.

Whatever it is, it will have to wait until Pickering and his wife Sarah start their family.

"Sarah and I are thrilled to be expecting our first child later this year," he said, adding the couple would "use this opportunity to take a trip overseas while we still can."